This is a reminder of the April 1 deadline for ordering reading materials for your fall courses. In 2007 the Tennessee General Assembly passed a law designed to control textbook costs at Tennessee public colleges and universities. The book order deadlines of April 1 for fall semester, October 1 for spring semester, and February 1 for summer school need to be observed by all faculty members to meet legislative requirements.

The spirit behind the law is a good one: we all know that the cost of the materials we assign our students impacts their ability to succeed in college. This is why all of us already consider carefully the cost of books when crafting our required reading lists.

The UT Bookstore works hard to meet its obligation of being a full-service provider of course materials for our students. The bookstore is particularly important for scholarship students who often depend on it as the only place that can accept their financial aid in a timely fashion and get books to them before the start of classes. To speed the process, the UT Bookstore added the Online Faculty Adoption feature on their website. Faculty and department coordinators can submit book requests electronically, saving time and paper. The bookstore will continue to accept book requests via hand delivery, campus mail and fax, but encourages faculty to use the online method.

Some students find lower prices online, in used bookstores, etc. Some faculty members encourage them to do so. If you will be encouraging your students NOT buy from the bookstore, please note that on your book orders. The bookstore tries to stock the correct number of books, but it can lose money when the number of students purchasing at the bookstore is significantly lower than in past semesters. We need your help in accurately predicting orders and reducing waste costs so that we can keep costs to students as low as possible.

The legislation further states that textbooks, when the publisher provides them for free, be placed on library reserve or in a place of easy student access. I especially encourage you to donate these examination copies to the Office of Multicultural Students Life’s Book Loan Program. Doing so will help us fulfill the letter of the law, but far more importantly it will help us meet the needs of students who find the cost of textbook purchases prohibitive.

Please deliver the books directly to the Black Cultural Center, or contact Tanisha Jenkins, associate director of the Office of Multicultural Student Life, at 974-6861 or tjenkins@utk.edu for alternative arrangements.

For more information on the UT Bookstore’s Online Faculty Adoption program, contact Shirley Streeter at 974-1047 or sstreete@utk.edu.

Thank you in advance for placing your book orders before April 1 and for considering providing your examination copies to the Office of Multicultural Student Life.